My Brother's Keeper
by Aspen-Writer
Summary: Nick and his brother used to have a strong bond, but thanks to several situations the relationship is starting to strain. At the same time a disappearance leads Nick and Judy to a fox rights group which is not what it seems. Both Nick's work and personal life soon collide and he must overcome his own doubts and prejudices in order to save his brother from a dangerous enemy.
1. Chapter 1

_What's up, Zootopia fans? I know it's been awhile since I've uploaded another Zootopia fanfic here, but that is because I was working on this fanfic here and trying to come up with plot ideas and such_ _._

 _Anyway, this is going to be my first ever Zootopia fanfic that isn't a one-shot and I seriously hope I will be able to finish this. -_-;_

 _This fanfic might also have a bit of Nick/Judy moments but the main pairing is an OC/OC pairing...kind of I guess? It'll explain later._

 _So yeah...hope you enjoy it._

 **Chapter 1: An Uneasy Night**

Evening had fallen upon the downtown area of Zootopia. The nocturnal animals were already coming out of their homes to work their night shift jobs while some would rather spend the night partying at some late night club. Some non-nocturnal animals had the same idea and decided a few more hours outside wouldn't hurt. Thought most animals had spent long and sometimes rather stressful days and were looking forward to getting home and winding down after unexpected events in their lives.

One of these animals was a red fox who trudged slowly up the stairs to his apartment, his ears flattened and eyes downcast. A huge emotional weight was on the fox's heart, causing the fox to drag his back paws down the apartment hallway, his eyes still focused on the ground. Reaching his apartment door, the fox dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a key. It took him a couple of tries until he finally shoved the key into the keyhole and unlocked the door. Once inside he hung his coat up and tossed his bag to the corner. Dragging himself towards the couch, he finally collapsed onto the furniture, a huge sigh leaving him.

"How did this happen?" He groaned as he slowly rubbed his eyes. He glanced down at his coffee table and picked up the remote control.

Perhaps some TV will help him take his mind off of what happened.

He clicked on the TV and a soap opera starring two leopards appeared on the screen.

"Brian," The beautiful female cried out as she clutched the arm of the male leopard. "Please don't leave me! We can work this out!"

"It's too late, Christine," The male leopard stepped away from the female. "It is over between us…"

The fox narrowed his eyes and switched the channel to reveal a music video with a female hare gazing up at the moon, singing in a mournful tone.

 _"Enough is enough…I can't live without him! I want him back in my life!"_

The fox switched the channel again to reveal a commercial.

"Having relationship problems?"

With a growl, the fox immediately turned off the TV. He leaned back again and closed his eyes, the same feeling of despair rising in him at the idea of the whole world being against him.

A familiar jingle and a vibration inside his pant pocket caused him to open his eyes. He took out his phone to see who it was. A warm feeling of joy and relief washed over him when he saw the image of a familiar fox. He pressed the green circle on the phone.

"Hey Nick…"

"Hey Rey!" His brother's voice came from the other end. "How's it going?"

The fox named Rey put on a strained smile. "It's…great!"

Across the other side of the downtown area, another red fox frowned with concern. "Uh oh, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something's wrong, Rey." Nick Wilde answered his brother. "Your voice is lower than usual."

"What does that have to do—"

"Your voice rarely goes low like that unless something is wrong."

Rey closed his eyes again and silently cursed the way his brother was able to read him like an open book.

"So…what's wrong?" Nick asked again.

Rey opened his eyes, giving a huge sigh. "Kyle broke up with me tonight."

"Aw geeze, seriously? Why?"

"Said that the relationship has no long-term potential." Rey answered. "Thought it would be best if we broke up now instead of getting hurt later on…"

"Aw geeze…" Nick repeated as he shook his head. "I'm sorry, bro..."

"Hey don't be," Rey reassured. "Maybe he had a point…we weren't going anywhere…" He paused. "…but…it doesn't hurt any less…"

"Yeah," Nick nodded. "Well, geeze…wish I can help, Rey…"

A thought crossed his mind. "Hey actually, there might be a way! There's this tiger at the ZPD, he doesn't talk about females and doesn't seem to be interested in them. I think he could—"

"Thanks Nick," Rey interrupted, knowing what his brother was thinking of doing. "I appreciate it, but I think I'll put the boyfriend thing on hold for the moment and focus on something else."

"Like what?"

"Well…" Rey thought for a minute. "Like getting a loan to buy a building for the restaurant."

"Oh you finally found a building?"

"I sure did! You ought to come over and see it sometime. I mean it can use a little fixing up, but I think it's perfect."

"Well all right," Nick agreed. "But considering how many are swooning over this tiger, I doubt he'll be single for long."

Rey couldn't help but smile at Nick's remark. "Speaking of which, how's it going with your job?"

"Oh it's great!" Nick's voice heightened with excitement. "Carrots and I managed to solve those jewel heist cases over at Savannah Square."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Turns out the masterminds of the heist were a couple of sweet kangaroo mothers."

Rey sat up. "Seriously?!" He gasped in astonishment. "How did they manage to do that?"

"Well first off they would talk with the employees, distracting them from looking down while the joeys would slip out of their pouches to swipe the jewels and then hide them in the pouches."

Rey shook his head in disgust. "Teaching them how to commit crime…that's something no mother ought to teach their kid…"

"You got that right…" Nick agreed. "Hopefully these two mothers will get some parenting lessons in the local prison."

"Well that's great," Rey smiled. "Taking down thieves, putting away psychotic sheep, shutting down street racers, I'm proud of you, Nick!"

"Well, it's not just me," Nick replied. "Carrots has a great knack for picking up the small clues and details at the crime scenes. But don't tell that to her, you know how she gets."

"Right," Rey chuckled.

"Yeah, like there was this one time…"

The two fox brothers spent the rest of the hours just talking on the phone with each other, sharing stories about their workplaces and events that had happened to them during the day.

"And so I asked her if it was spelled A-M-Y," Rey was finishing up a story, "and then she says, 'No it's A-Y-M-I-E.'"

"Whoa!" Nick laughed in astonishment. "You need to take a nap after spelling out that name!"

"Tell me about it," Rey laughed as well. He glanced up at the clock. "Anyway, I think I ought to get to bed now. Gotta get up early and try for the loans."

"Right," Nick agreed. "Oh hey, we still up for some Bug-A-Burger on Friday?"

"Nick, you know there is no way I'd miss our traditional sibling dinner."

"Just checking."

"Don't worry, I'll be there."

"OK, great! Well good night then. Good luck on getting the loan!"

"Thanks Nick. Love you, little bro."

"Love you too, Rey."

Rey hung up the phone, still smiling at the jokes and stories Nick had told him. Climbing into bed, he realized that he didn't feel that bad about the breakup anymore after talking about it with Nick. Still a small twinge of despair still resided inside him, causing him to wonder if he was the one who did something wrong in the relationship with Kyle that caused the breakup or if he will ever get the loan he needs to open his restaurant.

Rey mentally shook his head. He shouldn't be worrying about these kinds of things before sleep. Instead he tried to focus on his chat with Nick. He closed his eyes, a small smile on his face as he allowed his mind to wander back to happy memories resulting in a peaceful sleep.

Miles away in a small apartment a television was blaring infomercials but its viewer was not paying any attention to them. Instead the viewer was face down on the couch, snoring lightly. The viewer was a slender built weasel with brown fur and wearing a white sleeveless shirt and black shorts. The phone in the apartment began to ring, causing the sleeping weasel to stir.

"Mmph?"

The phone continued on ringing, causing the weasel to lift his head up, blinking away the sleep.

"Ugh," The weasel groaned as he got up from the couch and shuffled towards the phone, kicking away the old takeout boxes in his path. Reaching the phone, he picked up the receiver and growled.

"Whad'ya want?!"

"Dad?"

The weasel became alert at the sound of a familiar voice.

"David?"

"Dad!" The voice cried out in terror. "I need help!"

"Why? What's wrong?" The weasel felt fear course through him at the sound of his son's terrified voice. "Where are you?"

"I-I don't know," His son stammered. "I've never been in this area before!"

"OK, OK, calm down," The weasel tried to calm his son and also himself. "Try to find a public building and get in there ASAP! You hear me, David?"

Suddenly he heard a thump sound, the sound of a phone being dropped.

"David?! David! Are you okay?! David! Answer me!"

He froze in horror when a new voice replied.

"Duke Weaselton, is it?"

"What's it to ya'?!" The weasel snarled in the phone. "What are you doing to my son?!"

"David can't come to the phone right now…" The voice spoke in a low growl, "and if you value your miserable life, I'd advise you to keep your mouth shut."

"Who the hell is this?!" The weasel yelled into the phone. "What have you've done to my son?!"

The only answer given was the tone dial. Duke's eyes widened in horror.

"No…NO!"

He immediately dialed his son's phone number, clenching his paw into a fist as he listened to the phone ring once…twice…thrice…

There was no answer.

"Damnit!" He slammed the phone down and began to pace around his apartment, biting down upon his paw as thoughts ran through his mind…each one more terrible than the last.

He glanced out of his apartment window to stare down at the streets of downtown Zootopia.

Somewhere in the city his son was being held captive and the worried father had no idea where he was or who had taken him.

For the first time in a long time, he felt helpless.

With a growl, he immediately headed for the door.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…"


	2. Ulterior Motives

_A/N: So sorry for taking so long to post the next chapter! Been busy with life and school. But here is the next chapter for the fanfic. Hope you enjoy it._

 **Chapter 2: Ulterior motives**

It has been a full year since Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps became police officers in the ZPD. Right now they were issuing another ticket to a young stag.

"A ticket?!" The stag was complaining. "What for?!"

"Sir, you stopped right in front of oncoming traffic and nearly caused an accident," Judy explained as she wrote up the ticket.

"It was the car coming towards me!" The deer tried to defend himself. "The lights got into my eyes!"

Nick couldn't help but smirk at this excuse. "Old deer in the headlight trick, right? How many times have we've heard that, Carrots?"

"Too many times," Judy replied as she tore out the ticket and handed it to the stag. "Just make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Aw geeze…" The stag grumbled as he took the ticket and got back into his car.

The fox and the rabbit got back into their squad car as they watched the car drive off.

"Well that went rather well." Nick smiled.

"'The headlights got into my eyes'," Judy scoffed. "How can that happen in broad daylight?"

"Cons use any excuse to get out of trouble, Carrots."

Judy couldn't help but smirk. "Is this coming from personal experience?"

"Me?" Nick had a look of complete innocence on his face. "Madame, I am an officer of the law. How could you accuse me of such a thing?"

"All right Slick Nick," Judy laughed, "You've made your point."

At that moment their dispatch radio came on.

"Officer Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde? You there?"

Judy picked up the receiver and answered, "Hearing you loud and clear, Clawhauser. What's the situation?"

"Okay well we got a call from someone around the area where you are. Someone's license plate has been stolen and they're waiting for help."

"Copy that. We're on our way."

They drove towards the street where the victims were waiting besides their car. It was a mother tiger along with her teenage son.

The mother glanced up and sighed in relief at the sight of the two officers. "Oh thank goodness you are here!"

The teenage son stared at the two officers as they approached the car. "Hey, you're the bunny and fox cop!"

Judy smiled and nodded. "Officer Judy Hopps and Officer Nick Wilde, here to help."

"Wow!" The young tiger stood staring and grinning at the sight of the two famous officers standing in front of him. He then held up his phone. "You think I can get a picture of you guys? My friends are never going to believe this!"

"Trevor!" His mother hissed. "This is no time for social media! We are the victims of a crime!"

Nick couldn't help but smile at the young tiger's eagerness and the mother's scolding.

"Maybe later, kid." He answered. "Gotta take care of the crime first."

Trevor's ears lowered but he nodded to show that he understood. Judy meanwhile went to the back of the car and glanced at the bare bumper.

She immediately took out a police report and wrote down the information.  
"Did any of you two spot anyone suspicious hanging around your car or running way?"

"Uh, I think I did." Trevor spoke up.

Judy looked at the young tiger, pen ready for the description of the suspect.

"When we were coming out from the building, I noticed someone running away from our car."

"Oh Trevor!" The mother tiger suddenly sighed. "Why didn't you say something before?"

"Hey don't blame me! I didn't know." Trevor shrugged.

"Can you recall what type of species the suspect was?" Judy asked before the mother tiger could say anything else.

Trevor scratched his head as he tried to recall the suspect. "But…he was small…kind of thin…I think it was probably a weasel."

Judy blinked. "A weasel?"

"Do you remember what the weasel was wearing?" Nick asked.

"Yeah…white shirt with no sleeves, black shorts…looked like he was in an electric accident."

At this description, Nick and Judy glanced at each other in disbelief.

"You think…?"

"No doubt about it…"

Judy gave a huge sigh. "Looks like we have our suspect…"

Nick gave a nod and then turned towards the tigress. "You're going to have to report the stolen license plate to the DMV, but as it's illegal to drive around without a license plate…"

He took out a business card from his pocket and wrote the police report number and a brief description of the theft before handing it over to the tigress. "Show them this if any other officers stop you for driving without a plate."

"Thank you, officer." The tigress sighed in gratitude. "We really appreciate it."

"Yeah." Trevor nodded. "Hey um…you think we can…?"

Nick merely smiled. "Sure kid."

One picture later, the two officers were heading off to find their weasel suspect.

"So," Judy spoke up. "Any reason why Duke would want to steal a license plate?"

"Hmm," Nick leaned back as he listed off possible reasons. "Probably involved in a con dealing with stolen vehicles, or someone else needs a stolen license plate and they're paying him to steal one. Or he's just doing it for a laugh but I doubt that. Duke isn't known to be a humorous type of mammal."

"Well if he is," Judy added, "He won't be laughing once we catch up to him."

They eventually found the weasel standing at his usual street corner and to their disbelief they spotted the license plate still clutched in his paws.

They slowed their police vehicle to a stop in front of the weasel and got out.

"Duke Weaselton!" Judy announced as she headed towards the weasel suspect.

Duke immediately turned towards her but to Judy's great surprise there was no fear or panic in his eyes, just amusement.

"Oh gee," Duke grinned. "What seems to be the problem, Flopsy?"

Judy silently seethed at the nickname Duke called her. "We've gotten a report for a stolen license plate and from what one of the witnesses told us, you were fleeing the scene of the crime."

Duke then held up the license plate in his paws, a smug grin still plastered on his face. "You mean this?"

Nick scanned the numbers on the license plate and gave a low whistle of mock surprise. "Wow that plate you have there has the same numbers as the stolen license plate. Imagine that."

Duke held out the license plate towards them, a smug grin still on his face. "It ain't a coincidence, Wilde. I'll admit I stole it."

Judy blinked in surprise. It was the first time Duke had admitted in a crime without any excuses. That was odd, even for him. Still there must be a reason.

"And why did you steal the license plate?" The rabbit officer asked. "Was someone paying you to steal it like how you were paid with the Night Howlers incident?"

"No reason, Flopsy." Duke smirked. "Just felt like it." He then dropped the plate on the ground and folded his arms, still smiling. "So what are ya' coppers gonna do about it?"

Judy and Nick glanced at each other, a silent agreement passed between them.

Duke soon found a ticket between his paws instead of the license plate.

"Make sure to appear on the court date it indicates," Judy informed Duke. "Have a good day."

The weasel could only stare as the rabbit and the fox headed back to their squad car.

"That's it?! Just one lousy ticket?!"

"Hey, count yourself lucky you were let off with a warning," Nick remarked. "Just do what the ticket says."

The two police officers got into their squad car and closed the doors shut.

"Well…" Nick spoke first. "That was…different."

"Something doesn't feel right," Judy muttered. "Duke seemed too glad to have been caught…its like—"

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

There was a sudden pounding noise, causing the rabbit and the fox to jump. The pounding continued which made both police officers to poke their head out the window.

Duke Weaselton was kicking the side of the squad car.

"Hey! HEY!" Nick snapped. "What are you doing?!"

Duke glanced up at them and pointed at where he had kicked the vehicle. "I've just committed vandalism against a cop car! C'mon! Throw me in!"

"What is your problem?" Nick snapped. "Do you want to be thrown in prison or something?!"

Duke suddenly held up his paws towards them. "C'mon! I ain't got all day! Put the cuffs on, now!"

At these words, Judy's suspicions were cleared. She got out of the car and walked straight towards Duke. Grinning, Duke held out his paws to be cuffed.

It didn't happen.

Judy just stopped right in front of Duke and folded her arms, frowning at him. "Duke…is there a reason why you want to go to the police station?"

Duke slowly lowered his paws, feeling a bit nervous at the glare Judy was giving him. He glanced around. "OK, look…there's something I gotta tell you. Something really important, but I didn't want to go straight to the station and ask…they'd think I was making it up or something."

Judy's ears twitched in curiosity. "Well, what's wrong? Do you need help?"

Duke didn't say anything but he gave a small nod.

"Then tell us. We can help you."

The weasel glared at her. "Not here!" He hissed between his teeth. "I can't be seen here talking to you coppers! I have a reputation, ya' know!"

Judy sighed and rubbed her forehead. "OK, fine…get in the car…"

Duke grinned as the rabbit opened the door. Judy thought she could see another emotion on the weasel's face.

The emotion of relief.

Nick merely glared suspiciously at the weasel through the rearview mirror. "No funny business, Duke…"

To his surprise Duke did not answered back with a sarcastic reply. The weasel merely nodded and glanced down at his paws and tapped his claws against his knee.

Judy started the vehicle and then looked over at her partner. The fox and the rabbit were still confused on why the weasel was acting this way.

What was going on?

Without another word, they drove away from the crowded area.


End file.
